Government petrol card scam uncovered

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RUNDU – A Rundu petrol service station has uncovered a scam in which petrol attendants at the service station were using government petrol cards to fill up private vehicles and pocket the money paid for petrol by motorists. The fraud discovery was made last week, but the service station owners are yet to establish the amount of money involved in the scam.

“In the system you see that a government car has filled up petrol but when you go to our recorded footage, as we have cameras all over, there have not been a government vehicle at the station,” said Alberto Felisberto, the owner of the Kavango Garage Total service station in Rundu, where the scam was identified.

About 11 petrol attendants have since been dismissed for the involvement in the fraud, and Alberto says the anomalies increased in the weeks to the end of August, and that led to the discovery of the fraud. In some cases the petrol attendants were giving inaccurate kilometres that does not correspond with the petrol card usage. “Records shows that some cars refilled the tanks just after driving 45 km and that is impossible,” he said, adding that some employees were caught red handed with government petrol card. Some of the cards used belong to the Office of the Governor in Kavango East.

Alberto says it is alleged that the petrol attendants had help from government employees who supplied them with petrol cards used to fill up different private cars, and with whom the defrauded money is shared.

No government employees have yet been arrested but the police have opened a case regarding the GRN petrol card fraud and are investigating the case. – Additional reporting by John Muyamba